Abstract
This chapter focuses on the use of ICT in literary routes and explores how technologies can influence the tour guides. It begins with a reflection on the key concept of literary routes (from both an educational and tourist perspective) and then considers the antecedents and components that define the guide. Finally, a survey of professionals and teachers with experience in the design and execution of literary routes is carried out in order to explore aspects such as (1) the actual use of ICT on the routes, (2) the synergies between the guide's skills and the use of ICT, and (3) to what extent the use of ICT leads to a change in the role of the guide.
TopIntroduction
One of the most present and relevant specific fields in cultural tourism is that of literary tourism. This field generates a wide range of very different tourist products, all of them based on the experience of visiting spaces and places linked to literature and reliving the related texts in them. This type of experience is of great educational value for those who attend, and that is why literary routes are used as educational instruments to teach students at every level. Research on this subject, that of the use of literary routes as a didactic instrument, is one of the main lines of the Research Group «Textos literaris contemporanis» (Contemporary literary texts) (TEXLICO) of the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia and the project «Geografies Literàries 3.0» (Literary Geographies 3.0) (GEOLIT) of the University of Valencia (involving members of eight universities in the Catalan linguistic area), to which the authors of this chapter belong.
At the same time, ICT currently offers many possibilities of application to cultural tourism in general and to literary routes in particular, so that the user can access numerous resources that complement their experience. This phenomenon can also affect the role of the person who leads the route, given that the ICT can condition the way in which some of the components traditionally associated with this task develop. The chapter aims to identify what contributions ICT can make in components of the literary route guide’s role and, as a consequence, what changes can occur in it. For that, it will be necessary to:
- 1.
Establish how ICT is currently used in the routes and identify what would be the most desirable contribution of ICT to literary routes in the preparation, implementation and post-activity phases.
- 2.
Identify which skills of the guide ICT can best interact and synergise with.
- 3.
Verify to what extent there is awareness that the new possibilities provided by ICT to literary tourism activities lead to a change in the role of literary route guide.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Tourist Guide: A person who guides tourists in an area or who leads tourists on a tour/route.
Storytelling: In a literary route, a narrative established by the guide for the itinerary to share information, knowledge and experiences with the participants.
Literary Route: An itinerary that groups together visits to different places linked to literary works or authors to read related texts.
Literary Tourism: A type of cultural tourism that deals with places linked to literary works or literary authors.
ICT Tools: A set of technological tools used, for example, to store, manage or communicate information.
Literary Place: A place connected to writers, literary works or literary events.
Interpretative Role: In a literary route, a role of the guide consisting in offering those who participate in the route the interpretative keys of the texts, their relationship with the places, with the lives of the authors or with the topics discussed.